Benjamin Mathius
Biography Prior to Dead Space Benjamin Matthius was the Captain of the USG Ishimura before the events of Dead Space. Various logs found throughout the game reveal that he was a devout and likely a very high level Unitologist, as evidenced by his hand-selection by the church to lead the extraction of the Red Marker. He was one of many who became increasingly delusional over the Marker's influence, which he demanded be taken immediately to the church, as was his mission all along. Apparently, he made rash decisions; such as denying Hydroponics to share their food surplus, and quarantining the entire colony (Ironically, to prevent the colonist's insanity from spreading to the Ishimura). Later, Dr. Terrence Kyne declares him unfit for active duty and relieves him from command, ordering the Ishimura's security guards to restrain him. As Matthius struggled, he was accidentally killed by Dr. Kyne, who violently stabbed him in the eye with a hypodermic needle. A text log, containing an autopsy of Matthius, suggests that the needle went through the eye, through the skull and into the frontal lobe, killing him instantly. The coroner suggests that it must have been someone else, as the strength of the stab couldn't possibly be of himself, as a person would have too much self-restraint to do it. The circumstances which led to his death are somewhat unclear. Events of Dead Space Matthius' body was taken to the ship's morgue's examination room, where his body lay while the Necromorphs began to overtake the ship. To access the Bridge's computer, the crew of the USG Kellion needed Matthius' RIG. Eventually, when Isaac Clarke came to retrieve it from the corpse of the former captain, an Infector leapt upon it, thereby resurrecting Matthius as an Enhanced Slasher (the first type of this enemy encountered in the game). Isaac promptly killed the creature, putting him down for good and taking his RIG. Trivia *There is a continuity error in Matthius' death between the movie and the game; the video log Isaac picks up depicting his death shows a more reasonable, calm Matthius that was still restrained as the needle went into his eye, then dies immediately (in the game, it seems to appear that Kyne may have done this on purpose, despite his claims). The Matthius from the film, however, broke free of his restrainers and savagely tried to kill Dr. Kyne, resulting in the needle accidentally going into his eye, then flailing about and falling face-first with the needle penetrating through his cranium into his brain, finally killing him (in the film's case, his death is clearly accidental). *Matthius was the very first person who Isaac witnessed transform into a Necromorph. *The Benjamin Matthius of the Dead Space comics is significantly different from the version of himself in the video game or film. In the comics, Matthius has no facial hair, appears slightly younger and is even voiced by a different actor. Matthius in the video game, however, is older and voiced by J.G. Hertzler. The Matthius of the film is voiced by Jim Cummings, appears older and has white hair followed by a white beard. *It is stated in the autopsy log found in Chapter 2 that the captain's blood contained low amount of Leukocytes (White blood cells), while completely lacking Eosinophil, the white blood cells that are responsible for fighting off infections and parasites. According to the log, in pre-flight tests this problem was not present. There is a very small possibility that these effects could be related to exposure to the Red Marker. Gallery File:Dead-space-20080617102439201_640w.jpg|Isaac faces off against the reanimated Matthius File:00009.jpg|The captain as seen in game File:Matthius_death_dsdownfall.jpg|Matthius' death by the hands of Dr Kyne Appearances *''Dead Space'' *''Dead Space (Comics)'' *''Dead Space: Downfall'' *''Dead Space: Extraction'' *''Dead Space: Extraction (Comics)'' Sources Category:Characters